


First Sight, Second Thoughts

by JustAnotherBlonde



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Deidara's first time seeing Sasori's real body, First Akatsuki Mission, Gen, M/M, SasoDei Week 2021, Snow, also featuring the first time Dei calls Sasori 'danna', young Deidara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29644098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherBlonde/pseuds/JustAnotherBlonde
Summary: SasoDei Week 2021 || February 22 || First Time“Deidara.” Hiruko’s voice was deep and intimidating. It did the trick to get the boy’s attention.The blond ponytail twitched and Deidara looked up into Hiruko’s face. His lips were blue. Frost was forming on his pale eyelashes.“What is it, mn?” The boy’s voice was weak. He would not last the night at this rate. To lose a partner like this would be foolish.
Relationships: Deidara/Sasori (Naruto)
Kudos: 21
Collections: SasoDei Week 2021





	First Sight, Second Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

> i know there are a lot of fics like this out there, but here's my take!! i wrote it in september 2020, never got around to posting it, but it fits 'first time' perfectly :)
> 
> i've settled on fourteen as the age Deidara gets recruited for most of my fics. i imagine him as a fourteen year old who's had to grow up pretty fast, like any of these shinobi-types...... if you're not really into SasoDei when Dei's under eighteen, you don't have to read this, but this piece is just about feelings, nothing too weird.
> 
> similarly, i'm not really sure if chakra can be warm like how i've done here, so please just accept this feature...
> 
> final note... somehow i'm gonna start and end SasoDei week with darker pieces? but there's light stuff in the middle. please enjoy!!!

Sasori looked through Hiruko’s eyes once more at the snow storm which enveloped them. He and Deidara had sheltered behind an outcropping of rock, but his new partner was not faring well out there. The boy was curled into a tight ball, wrapped up in his Akatsuki cloak. His hat had blown away in the fierce winds, as had the one perched atop Hiruko’s head. Manipulating his chakra without thinking, Sasori lifted Hiruko’s arm to check that the bandana he used to cover his multi-jointed jaw was still in place. The boy had never seen Hiruko’s true face, let alone Sasori’s. In fact, the boy probably still thought that this was Sasori’s true form. This was their first mission together and they knew very little about one another.

“Deidara.” Hiruko’s voice was deep and intimidating. It did the trick to get the boy’s attention.

The blond ponytail twitched and Deidara looked up into Hiruko’s face. His lips were blue. Frost was forming on his pale eyelashes.

“What is it, mn?” The boy’s voice was weak. He would not last the night at this rate. To lose a partner like this would be foolish.

“You are aware of what my specialty is, yes?” Hiruko rumbled.

Deidara stared, then dipped his chin in a slow nod. “P-puppets,” he shivered.

“Do you know that _this_ is a puppet?” Hiruko lifted an arm and flipped aside the Akatsuki cloak which concealed the arm’s augmentations.

Blinking slowly, Deidara reached out to touch the arm. He fumbled his frozen hands over the smooth varnished wood and the protruding wooden cylinders containing poisoned senbon.

“So… w-where are _you_ , mn?” Deidara mumbled. The cold was making it hard for him to speak. His eyes were dull like dirty ice.

It took less than a thought for Sasori to open Hiruko so that he could tip himself out of the shell. The snow crunched beneath his hands and knees. He batted aside the Akatsuki cloak and stood, snow swirling around him and sticking in his hair.

This was the first time he had ever looked upon Deidara with his own ‘eyes’—if these inorganic devices he used to for vision could be called eyes. Every part of him was chakra-activated, from his eyes to his mouth and nose, even his rubber skin and wooden limbs. He could _see_ and _smell_ and _feel_ , despite his lack of human softness and moisture. Looking at Deidara like this wasn’t all that different from seeing the boy through Hiruko’s eyes, and yet… A cold wind gusted and a shiver went up Sasori’s spine.

Deidara took in Sasori’s small stature and porcelain-perfect face. A fire sparked in his blue eyes.

“You’re… pretty, mn,” he purred, rolling to his knees in an attempt to stand. He faltered—cold had entered his body and he could not control his limbs. He pitched forward, and without thinking Sasori stooped to catch him, help him up. They stood closer than Sasori would ever have felt comfortable, in this body or his old one. Deidara was just a fraction taller than him. Sasori stepped back so quickly it was almost a jump; he thumped into Hiruko.

Deidara lifted a hand, reaching for Sasori’s face. The tongue embedded in the boy’s palm stretched in Sasori’s direction as if it wanted to taste him.

“Wait…” Deidara said, brow furrowing.

Sasori’s hand flashed out, arresting Deidara’s movement before he could bring that abomination of a hand one inch closer.

“Inappropriate,” he growled, pale brown eyes staring, unblinking. He twisted Deidara’s wrist back until he cried out and stumbled backward, shaking out his hand and hissing in pain. Deidara eyed Sasori sideways, suspicion and fear creeping into his gaze.

“ _That_ is also a puppet, mn,” Deidara said in a low voice. He stared intently at Sasori. “I’ll ask again: _where_ are _you_?”

“I am before you,” Sasori replied. On this body he wore a smaller Akatsuki robe which concealed his greatest secret. It was too soon to reveal how _that_ worked to his new team member. The boy needed to prove himself.

Deidara stared.

“How… how…?” He paled; his legs gave out beneath him. He landed hard on his ass and stared up at Sasori, eyes wide.

“How can you live without a body??”

“Forever.”

“Wh-what?”

“I can live forever without a body,” Sasori said. His stare was colder than the air.

Deidara twisted away and vomited into the snow. He hacked and coughed, then wiped his mouth on his sleeve. The vomit steamed for a moment before it was swallowed by the snow and the cold.

“Whereas you,” Sasori continued without acknowledging Deidara’s reaction, “will die out here in the cold.”

This remark earned him a bleak and horrified stare from Deidara.

“You’re a—”

“Do not finish that statement, _boy_ ,” Sasori sneered, his face cracking into a sideways grin. “You won’t get out of this partnership that easily. You’ll survive if you shelter inside Hiruko with me. Come.”

He ducked down and pulled aside the tent-like Akatsuki cloak. With the flick of a finger he adjusted Hiruko’s shell so that it formed a slanted roof and lowered the base so that it formed a floor. The two of them could just about fit upon it, seated, with a secondary wall formed out of the cloak, its hem already buried in snow. Sasori sat cross-legged and waited for Deidara to enter.

It took a moment, but shortly Deidara crawled into the space, now lit by a floating ball of chakra-fire. Sasori didn’t need it, but it cost him nothing to create some warmth for the boy.

Deidara drew in a breath, steeling himself to sit next to Sasori. If Sasori were to admit it to himself, this offended him, just a little. But he let it go almost instantly as the boy finally slid onto Hiruko’s base, sinking back with a weary sigh. He had left his bag of clay just outside their makeshift shelter, but when he rubbed his hands together in front of the chakra fire, the palm-tongues twisted together and when he turned them to face the heat, the mouths sighed.

Intrigued, Sasori remarked, “They almost have personalities. How odd.”

Deidara’s eyes flicked sideways to look at Sasori.

“If it’s a contest, you’re weirder, mn,” he retorted.

Sasori did not react to this externally: he did not shrug, he did not change his facial expression, he did not sigh. He sat motionless, following the trail of thought Deidara’s remark had sparked. When his thoughts reached a destination, he spoke:

“Oddness and normality are relative terms. What you perceive as ‘weird’ may be only natural to another.”

Deidara stared. “No. You have no body. You’re a talking puppet. That’s weird. I have mouths in my hands but I still need to eat and shit and fuck like a normal human being, mn.”

He huddled in on himself and stared into the glowing ball of warmth. He looked very lonely, and strangely old in the flickering shadow.

“How old are you, boy?” Sasori asked, tipping his head to one side.

“It made more sense for you to call me ‘boy’ when you were knocking around in this thing, mn,” Deidara said petulantly, thumping a fist on Hiruko. “You look like you’re twelve, mn.”

“I am not. How old are you.” This time the question was almost a threat.

“Fourteen, mn,” Deidara grunted.

Sasori nodded. “I had already accomplished much by that age.”

Deidara waited, but Sasori did not elaborate. The wind outside their shelter howled louder, rocking Hiruko’s shell against their backs.

“I know next to nothing about you, Sasori-sama… mn,”

“Sama?” Sasori repeated. “That seems a bit much…” But he offered no alternative.

“I know how powerful you are. I heard the others talking. You’re a master chakra manipulator. I didn’t understand just what that meant until now, mn.”

Sasori stared into the ball of light he had made. It was the barest show of his talents, this much was true.

“And poisons,” Deidara continued. “I know your puppets all contain deadly poison. I had been wondering how you managed to avoid poisoning yourself, figured you’d built up a tolerance or something, but now it makes sense…mn.”

“The human body is weak. Transient.”

Deidara snapped his head in Sasori’s direction, confusion etched on his brow.

“That’s the beauty of it, though, isn’t it? Beauty is a single moment, mn.”

“Wrong.” Sasori’s shot back. “Beauty is eternal.”

“Oho?” Deidara was intrigued by this. The boy seemed to be warming up, and not just physically: this conversation brought life to his eyes. “Do you consider yourself an artist, mn?”

“I have been an artist for longer than you’ve been alive.”

“You can’t be _that_ much older than me, mn,” the boy grinned.

“I killed the Third Kazekage and immortalized him as one of my finest works of art when you were no more than a babe.” Although no emotion showed on Sasori’s smooth face, as he said this his voice lowered, grew husky. He lowered his gaze.

“I suppose I have a lot to learn from you then, Sasori-no- _danna_ , mn.”

Sasori looked up at him sharply. The boy was still smiling at him: of course, how would he know to listen for emotion hidden in Sasori’s voice? They had only just met. He knew nothing of Sasori, knew nothing of who the Third had been to him. Why had Sasori expected him to pick up on anything?

“‘Danna,’ is it?” he queried the boy, who smirked. _Master_. It fit him like a glove. “Very well.”

The boy shifted his position, trying to get comfortable. He tried leaning back against Hiruko’s shell but the slant forced him to crunch his neck forward. He sat up again and rubbed his eyes, leaning his torso over his propped-up knees.

“You should sleep,” Sasori remarked. He slid himself aside, making room for Deidara to lie down. Curled up, Deidara would fit perfectly upon Hiruko’s base. After all, he was not that much larger than Sasori.

With a look of disbelief that reminded Sasori somewhat of a small stray dog he had once fed scraps to on the streets of Sunagakure, Deidara slowly lowered himself onto Hiruko’s base. It was covered with a scrap of black fabric that Sasori used for dramatic effect rather than comfort. The edges of the fabric were frozen into the snow, or else it could have served as a cover or even a pillow, but Deidara did not even seem to notice it there.

Sasori made as if to exit the shelter.

“Stay with me, mn,” Deidara murmured. He had slipped his forehead protector off and pulled his arms into his Akatsuki cloak, wrapping himself in it like a blanket. “You’re not that big. You’ll fit. You can keep me warm with all that chakra you’re hiding, mn.”

Not quite understanding why he did it, Sasori decided to comply.

Deidara opened his cloak, indicating that Sasori should join him inside it.

“It won’t make a difference to me,” Sasori said, shaking his head. “I don’t feel the cold like you do.”

And yet he crawled over anyway and curled in front of Deidara.

“But you must feel something, mn,” Deidara whispered into his ear as he threw an arm around Sasori’s torso. The mouth on his palm was closed, as if it were already asleep.

Staring ahead at the makeshift tent wall as it billowed in the wind, Sasori called his chakra-fire back to himself and let the heat bloom within him. He found Deidara’s hand in the dark and brought it to his chest, placing it on top of his core. Even through the thick fabric of his cloak, the boy ought to be able to feel its warmth and pulse.

“I suppose… I must…” Sasori whispered.


End file.
